As for my current activities, I’ve been experimenting with a lot of engine programming techniques I’ve been picking up while studying the Assassin Creed codebase as an educational exercise. Itching to either complete a usable engine or join an open source game engine project (maybe Ogre?).

I probably won’t update this blog as “frequently” as I used to, although I do have a lot more free time now, so maybe I should? Let’s see what the future has in store first!

Okay so I’ve been really busy lately.. First with my new google nexus one (which I’m loving), secondly with adding features and refining the development pipeline of project warpy and lastly finishing up some stuff for work (today was a major milestone/deadline). I find it extremely important to establish a good production pipeline for any game project in general as this makes sure content is continuously added to the game. Of course for this to work, all bottle necks that prevent the flow of content from creator (artist/programmer/designer/sound engineer) into the game must be settled with utmost priority!

Anyway.. I’m also currently working on porting pcsx (psx emulator) to the android platform. I’ve never actually ported anything before so this is more of a hobby for me than anything else. After checking out the (really advanced) source code for the emulator, I can only say that the developers planned cross platform elements very well and I am generally impressed by it! I’ve also realised that debugging when writing native code for the android platform is seriously a pain in the ass. XD

Anyway, I will be updating this blog more frequently from now onwards! Thanks for all the comments in the character physics article (apparently it’s getting lots of hits from google. o_O).

… and starting on application programming! With all the research and core systems tested and proven in project warpy, it’s time to start creating the toolset for the designers to use. I’ll be developing these tools in C#.NET and despite my lack of experience in application programming for C#, it wasn’t hard to adapt (mostly due to my experience in VB.NET).

Been pretty busy with work lately (and collecting loot in world of warcraft). Going down to the creative company for tips on web design on a daily basis and frankly I’m quite sick of it here. The internet is slow, the place is in the middle of nowhere and I’m bumming around not doing much most of the time.

DockPanel Suite in action

Ah well, at least I got a chance to check DockPanel Suite out. It’s frigging awesome, with a couple of drag and dropping with the form designer in C# you can have an application looking like VS.NET’s docking system. Take a look on top!

Finishing up a couple of stuff in the office and heading off.. damn looks like I’m stuck here for the rest of the week.

I just got premium membership for the xna creator club to test project warpy. Although I was initially excited, I found out (to my horror) that project warpy doesn’t run on the XBOX due to the fact that I’m using unmanaged code! Curse you LuaInterface, curse you to heck!

So.. I have a project meeting in a couple of hours and a whole new level editing system to implement. Hopefully it isn’t too much of a hassle to get XML working on the XBOX (shouldn’t be too hard based on the articles I’ve read). Basically, note to self, never use scripting languages with XBOX… reason being that it runs on the .NET compact framework, which doesn’t support System.Reflection.Emit, which from what I read is important in .NET script interpreters.

Time to rush up a quick level editing system for the meeting!

Update: Whoo hoo! I’ve finished implementing the new XML system and even support for XBOX 360 controllers.

Bone System Update: I’ve managed to get bone animations reading into xna via a custom content processor.. Now to fit it into my scenegraph.

Blog update: I’ve added a video of my portfolio and a couple of screenshots of past projects in the Games section.

We’ve just met a major deadline in the office! Looks like it’s gonna be pretty easy-going for the rest of the week. The website template for simiansoftwerks.com has more or less been completed. The only thing left to do is add content to the site (and remove those super cool placeholder content ).

I’ve recently come across a cool smartphone by google, dubbed the Nexus One, and apparently from the reviews it’s hardware is far more superior than the iPhone 3gs. I’m an owner of a iPhone 3g (not 3gs) and frankly I’m sick of the lack of customizability, and the ridiculous need to use iTunes (which runs horribly on windows). I mean just check out this trailer and tell me you don’t wanna get one.

Anyway, part 2 of my Skeletal Animation in 2D article will be out in a couple of days, after I actually implement the system. I’ll make sure I have some screenshots and a couple of code listings. As for Project Warpy, my team has requested that I reveal as little as possible until the demo release date. It’ll help build the excitement I guess.

Been having a busy week in the office.. Got a deadline coming in 2 days and “loads” of work to do. Ah well, time to pump caffeine into my veins. I’ve been working on a new website design for simiansoftwerks.com, the company I’m setting up in late 2011.

Here’s a screenshot of what I’ve got:

All placeholder images belong to their respective owners, of course!

I’ll be back in 2 days to post an article (about bone transformation and hierarchical rendering in 2D) so see ya then.